Minka Kelly: “I love my imperfections!”

Fresh-faced beauty Minka Kelly looks flawless, but she insists she has her imperfections! Our cover girl dishes on her true feelings about body image and how her past has made her stronger and more positive about herself.

As we learned at our cover shoot, Kelly is refreshingly real and relatable. Like most women, she has good days and bad days when it comes to self-confidence.

“Sometimes it depends on what mirror I look in,” says the actress. “Some days, I say, ‘I’m not going to look in a mirror at all because it doesn’t matter.’ Some days, you care more than others. Some days, it’s that time of the month and you’re super bloated and everything sucks. And some days you’re like, look at me, I feel really proud. I have highs and lows.”

The lows have contributed to her journey towards personal health and happiness. After being approached by Elite Model Management when she was younger, she was asked to lose fifteen pounds.

“I didn’t think I needed that!” she says. “But I heard what they said and I looked at myself and I took it as a challenge. I thought, I’m a little heavier than I need to be and I’ll take that challenge and I did.”

Challenge yourself to Kelly’s workout for a feel-good boost!

In the end, taking matters into her own hands paid off for her body and mind. “I decided to be healthy and happy with myself first so if I heard that again, I’d know they were wrong and I’d be confident in what was going on with me as opposed to letting others bother me,” says Kelly.

She also says that her self-reliance doesn’t solely come from textbook features. She thrives off individuality and embraces her personal quirks. “When someone has a gap between their two front teeth, it’s so beautiful and so rare,” says Kelly. “I love crooked teeth. I love anything imperfect because that’s what makes you unique. No one else has that imperfection. No one else has my scar on my chin.”

Kelly also has a scar on her stomach, and even though it was airbrushed out of her October 2010 Esquire cover, she says she’s so proud of it.